Remember way back when, in the time of Napster and Kazaa? The RIAA had this brilliant plan to sue the pants off of anybody that they thought was possibly downloading music illegally? As I recall it, they thought that it would work wonders because nobody would continue to download if they saw how many people were going to jail for the same crime. Then things headed south, and the lawsuits only sometimes worked. It looks like they’re going to try a new strategy now, and if you think that file-sharers have won, think again.

Instead of suing, the Wall Street Journal has discovered that the RIAA will start working with certain top-tier ISPs to directly contact people that they suspect of illegally sharing protected files. If a customer is suspected of downloading copyrighted material, they will be contacted by their ISP (on behalf of the RIAA) and be asked to stop. If they continue, then their bandwidth may be throttled, or service could be cut completely.

The Wall Street Journal claims that the current plan calls for the ISP to have responsibility toward its customers, leaving the RIAA (and their lawyers) basically out of it. However, the RIAA might seek to reserve right of litigation against the ISPs if they refuse to give up the names of specific customers in large cases. This change marks a significant shift in tactics for the RIAA and could be a great step forward, or this could blow up in their faces, just as shockingly as the mass lawsuits.

Reader Comments

Dan H.

I really don’t think this will be too effective. So many people download files illegally, it is impossible to stop them all. It needs to be accepted that some people will buy software, others will simply illegally download it. They will always find a way to do so.

capitalist

What happens if the RIAA repeatedly levels false charges against me? Am I guilty until proven innocent? Will there be due process?

This has the potential to be a major disaster.

Reaper

I wonder if ISPs are just going to mass mail warnings to try and carpet-bomb users. Yeah, a few people might stop if they believe thir ISP is watching, but smart pirates have stopped using Limewire and moved to torrents.

Protowall and PeerGuardian2 help keep out a lot of snoopy IPs as well.

New motto: Use an external HDD and keep a hammer nearby.

Mae

Aww the Patriot Act is @ work again.

demonhorde665

lol sure teh patriot act is bad , but what’s this ahve to do with the patriot act , the patriot act only allows for FEDERAL police forces to tap phoens and internet with out due process ,fi you are suspected to TERRORISM , sure it willbe sued for other thigns by teh goverment , BUT , the RIAA , is NOT a a goverment group in any way , the RIAA , is made of of major record label companies it is is ran by bassically what amounts to privbate buisness , and aside from itdumping money on certain politicans , it has no connection to the goverment let alone access and privelages afforded only to law enforcment agencies. and since the ISP’s have a DUTY to up hold privacy laws and the RIAA is NOT the goverment the ISP’s are legally bond NOT to give out any personal information to another organiztaion (non govermental that is ) unless YOU sign a waver that gives them the right to do so. There for i see only a few things happening over this
1. the RIAA starts suing ISP’s for not ahdnign otu thier customer personal info , in which case RIAA willlose since the ISP’s are leagally bond NOt to give out that info to any one except police agencies

2. some ISP’s get scared and and hand out said info only to be sued later by their now ex-customers
3. when the goverment starts up freewireless internet acess , the RIAA gets slapped in the face by the GOVERMENT when they try to ask for users personal info. or worse ,they get fined a very very heavy ammount when they try to obtain said info themselves with out any one’s consent

in short this will go no where ,and it definitely will NOT stop theiving pirates from doing what they do, all it will do is make the RIAA look an a– again (as if they haven’t been in that position before LOL)